Training TAs to help students learn engineering discourse

Undergraduate engineering students acquire the discourse of engineering not only informal classes but also through their interactions with teaching assistants (TAs) in engineering lab courses. The TAs, by their comments on student papers and their instruction in the lab, influence students' progress in learning to write, speak and think like engineers. Few teaching assistants, however, have received explicit instruction in effective ways to respond to student writing or to help students improve their communication skills. Literature searches reveal that little information exists on programs to train engineering TAs to coach the writing process. Here, the author describes a training program at the University of South Carolina, USA, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which introduces teaching assistants to the principles of writing instruction and to special topics related to writing in engineering.